Spotted on the Roadside: …A flying saucer? You mean the kind from up there?

September 26, 2014 Comments Off read Pacific, Spotted on the Roadside, Travel, USA, Washington, West

I’d been yearning over the glass diana lens for digital cameras for a while, so recently I sucked it up and bought an adaptor as well as the lens and tried it out at the UFO. I can’t decide if I think the results are just plain crappy, or crappy in an endearing Plan 9 From Outer Space way.

I WANT TO BELIEVE

…that I didn’t spend $200 to take pictures that look like this.

Landing Zone is an art installation at Paine Field Community Park, meant as a humorous spin on flight given its location adjacent to the airport. In 2010, it was selected for the Public Art Year in Review, which recognizes 40 of the year’s best public art works in the United States and Canada. But is that all it is? An art installation near a playground with a tongue-in-cheek reference that you can use for shade or a humorous photo backdrop? While looking for more information on Landing Zone, I discovered that Everett is a hotbed of UFO sightings, some of which are being reported from 85 years in the future.

I was letting my dog back in from being outside. And i noticed a white flash while the object? was moving to the right of my house. It flashed every 5 seconds. And it’s wasn’t flashing any other colors. It was bright enough that i could see it in the clouds. The flashes where not triangle or squared shaped. it seemed to be a bit roundish, Curved a little bit. The Object made no sound what so ever. I was only able to watch it for about 1 minute. It also moved slowly.

Was standing in my back yard watching for meteors when a bright light appeared directly overhead. The object did not move it just expanded in size approximately 2-3 times, increased light intensity to super bright, brighter than the super moon that was in the southeast sky, then suddenly disappeared. It was the strangest thing I have ever witnessed.

Spooky! Spotted on Beverly Park Road in Everett, WA

Spotted on the Roadside: You Mean Like That Bozo, Bonko the Clown?

August 22, 2014 Comments Off read Pacific, Spotted on the Roadside, Travel, USA, Washington, West

JP Patches was a beloved clown who hosted a local Seattle television show for children for over twenty years. Having grown up in Wisconsin, I spent my mornings with Bozo the Clown instead, so I don’t really have a point of reference for JP Patches, save that he was said to be the inspiration for Krusty the Clown. Any clown even remotely associated with Krusty is OK in my book. Except Gertrude. I don’t know if she was as terrifying in the show as she is on this statue, but holy nightmare fuel!

Spotted on 34th St in Seattle, WA.

The Mill Creek Festival

August 18, 2014 Comments Off read Pacific, Travel, USA, Washington, West

The Mill Creek Festival is held just a few miles from my house, so Jason and I decided to walk there and see what there was to see. And there was plenty to see and do– live music, entertainment, crafts vendors, food vendors, play areas, and even a haunted house! In general, I’m mostly uninterested in buying stuff from festival vendors. I’m also the sort of person who feels the weight of the craftsperson’s eyes when I’m looking at their wares and subsequently feels guilty for not buying anything, so I really cannot speak to the variety or quality of any of that. I can tell you that I saw lamps made out of liquor bottles out of the corner of my eye that made me grimace. The food court could have stood for some more variety–there were three gyro stands right next to one another, and kind of shockingly overpriced at that. We ordered at one of them where prices weren’t posted, and if I had known that they were $10 apiece, I would have gone to Kafe Neo instead and had one made to order instead of the sort-of mediocre one I ended up eating. The malasadas from Hawaii’s Donut were awesome, though–what’s not to love about warm fried dough rolled in sugar?

The very best part about the Mill Creek Festival is that it’s dog-friendly. Dogs aren’t just welcome, they have an entire area devoted to products for dogs…even a stage area where various dog groups put on demonstrations of their skills. I am such a dog person that seeing one dog makes me happy, and there were so many wiggly wagglers and tummies in need of rubs that I thought I might explode. My favorite dog was an eensy weensy puppy named Taro who was dedicated to taste-testing a pebble on the ground in front of him. My second favorite was a corgi who wanted ALL the tummy rubs. When we got home, Napoleon had a fit: not only did we clearly eat food that we didn’t share, but we also cheated on him with fifty other dogs. It’s true. And I’d do it again.